City Council Denies Extended Areas for Alcohol Consumption during Upcoming Festival

Shreveport, La. Discusses Alcohol Consumption Boundaries During Upcoming Humor and Harmony Festival

On Tuesday, July 9, the Shreveport City Council meeting saw rigorous discussions surrounding the scope of alcohol consumption in the downtown area during the forthcoming Humor and Harmony festival.

Resolution 109’s Rejection

Resolution 109, presented by Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor, envisaged permitting an extension of the open container area to include Stageworks and the Dome during the upcoming festival. Despite similar regulations being passed over 200 times since 2010, the city council, in a 2-5 ruling, rejected this measure.

Taylor’s Comments

Taylor stated that the accommodation had been approved countless times previously. She argued, “We’ve passed an open container regulation. We’ve done amendments and ordinances to suspect the rules for alcohol 215 plus times since 2010 with the city of Shreveport administration, so I thought with the number of people that were coming into the City of Shreveport that this would be a workable plan because we’ve done it before.”

Contrary Views Prevail

A majority of council members did not concur with Taylor. Councilwoman Ursula Bowman explained, “We did approve other alcohol extended to this Humor and Harmony, so right now we want to make sure that we’re not getting too much alcohol involved and make sure we can control the crowd and the crowd doesn’t control us.”

Potential Economic Impact

Some council members speculated that green-lighting the resolution could have spurred a positive economic repercussion in downtown Shreveport. Councilman James Green averred, “I just think that sometimes fear, false information appearing real, you know, let’s see if it works, if it doesn’t work then we have a capable police department that can take care of whatever. And I know they can take care of four blocks.”

What This Means Now

With the resolution’s failure, festival-goers will now need to finish their drinks at Stageworks before leaving the premises to ensure compliance with city ordinance. Notably, local restaurants and bars in downtown Shreveport will still serve alcohol during the festival.